25th Aug - Lake Garda to Florence
From the start we had planned to spend a Day or Two at Lake Garda. When we got there we thought we'd need at least a week to soak in the sun and the brilliant atmosphere. As it happened though when we looked at the map when we woke in the morning we were all in for a surprise. We had to get to Heff's wedding (Glen is best man!) in San Marco (About 50 miles South of Naples) We had very little time to do it in. We would have to hit the road that morning! And head south down Italy towards Florence.
Because of our problems in Geneva with glens bike, we'd have to miss Venice completely, which was a right pain, as we had planned to spend at least enough time for a lunch and walk around Venice to break our journey. We got in for a swim in the morning before we left and enjoyed the moment. We did a lap of Lake Garda on the bikes, which was lovely. We spent a few minutes ogling at pretty Italian Ladies in Riva, then said our goodbyes. We all vowed we'd return to lake Garda later in our lives to spend some time there with our loved ones. It really was a lovely place. The roads around the lake are riddled with tunnels, when you are in bright sunlight and enter a dark tunnel on a bike with sunglasses on it can be very scary. As you don't see much for the first 30 seconds or so while your eyes adjust to the light change. It can really make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. I recently watched the new bond movie and noticed the roads we drove around the lake were used in the opener of the movie.
After Riva we got out on the motorway and headed south to Florence. We left Lake Garda at about 12:30 and arrived in Florence at about 6pm. When we pulled into the centre of Florence we soon got the full whack of the Italian drivers, crazy! We headed for a hostel called Archi Rossi which was a brilliant cheap hostel, which I'd highly recommend if you are in Florence and on a budget. We had our own garage for all the bike gear and it was €80 for the three of us with our own room and internet. We got scrubbed up and hit the town, we found a beautiful place down a street in Florence with a table outside and the food was incredible. Washed it down with a nice bottle (or two) of wine. We headed back to the hostel and grabbed some beers there and broke out the guitar into the wee hours of the night. The atmosphere in the place was great with the whole place clapping to the music, and a truly hilarious moment where some Italian woman voiced her anger at us out of her apartment window. We hit the hay about 2:30am.
Because of our problems in Geneva with glens bike, we'd have to miss Venice completely, which was a right pain, as we had planned to spend at least enough time for a lunch and walk around Venice to break our journey. We got in for a swim in the morning before we left and enjoyed the moment. We did a lap of Lake Garda on the bikes, which was lovely. We spent a few minutes ogling at pretty Italian Ladies in Riva, then said our goodbyes. We all vowed we'd return to lake Garda later in our lives to spend some time there with our loved ones. It really was a lovely place. The roads around the lake are riddled with tunnels, when you are in bright sunlight and enter a dark tunnel on a bike with sunglasses on it can be very scary. As you don't see much for the first 30 seconds or so while your eyes adjust to the light change. It can really make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. I recently watched the new bond movie and noticed the roads we drove around the lake were used in the opener of the movie.
After Riva we got out on the motorway and headed south to Florence. We left Lake Garda at about 12:30 and arrived in Florence at about 6pm. When we pulled into the centre of Florence we soon got the full whack of the Italian drivers, crazy! We headed for a hostel called Archi Rossi which was a brilliant cheap hostel, which I'd highly recommend if you are in Florence and on a budget. We had our own garage for all the bike gear and it was €80 for the three of us with our own room and internet. We got scrubbed up and hit the town, we found a beautiful place down a street in Florence with a table outside and the food was incredible. Washed it down with a nice bottle (or two) of wine. We headed back to the hostel and grabbed some beers there and broke out the guitar into the wee hours of the night. The atmosphere in the place was great with the whole place clapping to the music, and a truly hilarious moment where some Italian woman voiced her anger at us out of her apartment window. We hit the hay about 2:30am.
