Lake Iseo: Tue 24 – Thurs 26 Sept: Accommodation
Tue 24th September
It was an overcast day but thankfully the rain had stopped meaning that we could take a quick final walk around Verona and have a final coffee at Cafe Martel, the cafe below our apartment. It was only a 2 hour journey from Verona to Lake Iseo so we stopped off at Sirmione, Lake Garda on the way to fill in some time before our next check-in. There was a 13th century castle, Scaliger Castle, worth visiting as it is considered to be the finest Castle ever built by the Scaglera family, one of the best preserved medieval castles in Italy and a rare example of a lake fortification.
Sirmione was very busy and packed with tourists, tour groups and tourist buses and we were lucky to get a parking spot. The Castle was rather impressive but it, too, was uncomfortably packed with people so we didn’t stay there too long. We had lunch at one of the restaurants but then set off for our hotel on the next lake across, Lake Iseo. Lake Garda had a similar issue to Mont Saint-Michel; it looked great from the drone shots posted on Instagram but differed greatly from the reality of the place being terribly overrun and overcrowded.
Our next accommodation was on the lesser known and smaller Lake Iseo which proved to be rather fortunate. The view from our lakeside hotel at Sulzano was quite spectacular as it looked out over Mont Isola and across to the mountains on the other side of the lake and we had a great room with a huge terrace, on the third and top floor, that looked out over this same view. There were very few people here so I was hoping that was a good thing. Mark saw the mountains and was immediately itching to get on his bike so he set off for a ride whilst I set off for the pool. One thing I noticed immediately was how there were no Italians staying in this hotel. In fact, apart from Mark and myself, it could have been the set of Midsummer Murders; they were all Brits! So, it was of no surprise then that our dinner, a contracted out business from the hotel, was terrible. I chose the veal cotoletta and I had imagined receiving a dish to rival that prepared by wonder chef Susan Scarf. Instead, I got a heavily battered, flat piece of something that fell well below par for what any club back home would dish up as a ‘schnitty’. It was inedible. Mark’s meal was not much better and also went ‘incompleto’. We now understood why there were no Italians staying at this hotel! There were few other dining options in the area though so we decided for tomorrow that we’d stick to pasta and see if we fared any better. Lucky for us that we had a magnificent view from our room to digest instead of food!
Wed 25th September
Our morning activity was a visit to the small island of Monte Isola just across from our hotel. They have a ferry service that runs back and forth all day every 20 minutes or so. Monte Isola has a population of just 1,600 spread across a few villages located on the perimeter of the island and it was like a step back in time as we cycled through these most humble settlements. We rode the 9km perimeter road around the island which was relatively easy as there are no cars on the island, just motorbikes and the occasional small bus, and most of the 9-kilometres was either the flat or downhill except for one uphill section. It was a glorious ride as, for the most, you had water on one side and olive groves on the other.
We headed back to the hotel after our bike ride to shower and change before sitting out again to get a different ferry over to Iseo. This was a 20 minute ferry ride and we spent our time there having lunch and walking around the town. It was hard to tell whether the quiet was due to siesta or whether it was always this quiet mid week. We could imagine the place would be quite busy during the summer and on weekends as it has a very pretty waterfront location and a great lungomare for strolling to enjoy the view. There were limited ferry options to and from our hotel to this area otherwise we would’ve made a point of coming over this way for dinner because our restaurant for lunch, Leon D’Ora, was great. We caught the 3.15 ferry back to our hotel and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing before dinner. My phone told me I had already achieved all my ‘move goals’ for the day so I felt it was okay to spend the afternoon relaxing and reading.
The large terrace was put to use in the early evening for our appetitivo hour. We had been lagging this bottle of Lambrusco around but it got put to good use this afternoon. It was then back down to the Restaurant for round two. We had a game plan in play: we had decided that we would go for the pasta options tonight because we thought Italians wouldn’t be able to stuff that up. It turned out that our pasta meals were better than those of the night before but only just. Just worth noting if you ever visit this place.
We had enjoyed our short visit to the Iseo lakes district but two nights was definitely enough for us. Just enough time for a little bit of sightseeing and a bit of relaxation. Our hotel was lovely, but the restaurant was not that great and there aren’t many other dining options in the immediate area so that’s a bit of a problem. It’s such a pity because if the restaurant was better then this place would be a slice of magic in the area. It’s not a part of the world that we would come back to again, but I wouldn’t tell others to not come. I would just make them aware of all the pros and cons and let them make their up own minds. The area is definitely a feast for your eyes but two days of that is probably enough.
