1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour #600 - The Dolomites Mountain, Italy

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour After Remission #600

 

- The Dolomites, Italy

 

(We had wanted to see this mighty mountains here in the Italian Alps for a while, and now that we are here, we are so taken by its beauty. Certainly worthy of its Unesco listing, the Dolomites look like a real tiramisu cake from afar. To get here, we hopped onto the cable car from Bolzano, hiked a good 1hr from the last train-station up here in Soprabolzano to get here. The additional reward here is see the highest Earth Pyramids, a rather unique geological formation here in Renon - or Ritten in German - with its huge bolder sitting at its top. How did these boulders get put up there? See the timelapse video below - inspiring) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour #599 - Juliet's Castle, Verona

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour After Remission #599

 

- Juliet's Castle, Verona, Italy

 

(We were here once before, but only because the tour manager managed to sneak it into our itinerary by sweet-talking to his Italian bus driver - but only for a mere 2hr stop. This time, Verona was in front of us for the whole day. The city is really buzzing because of Shakespeare - being the setting of Romeo + Juliet, complete with her castle and that balcony. We soaked it all up. We thought the nearby amphitheatre, the Verona Arena built in 30AD, was a smaller cousin of Rome's Coliseum, both in size and stature. For us, the Piazza del Erbe gave us the most satisfaction - just sitting there for a delicious Italian lunch and observing the painted old buildings here, the many stalls here selling their fresh produce and watching this Italian world go by, nice) 

 

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour #598 - Brescia, Italy

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour After Remission #598

 

- Brescia, Italy

 

(Brescia is the 3rd town here along Lake Garda that we visited. Turns out, it is the biggest too. The Unesco-listed Capitolium up in the hilly section of this town was what we wanted to see -  and we were rewarded with a Rome-like structure, with the brown and white columns built in 73AD standing out. Of all the pizzas that we have had in this trip, the ones we had here by the Piazza della Vittoria were  easily the best!) 

 

 

 

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour #597 - Desenzano

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour After Remission #597

 

- Desenzano, Lake Garda, Italy

 

(Did someone painted this Italian town into life? What a beauty of a town Desenzano is, which sits on the western edge of Lake Garda. One look at the marina here and all your cares melt away. We took an easy 40min bus ride, but decided to hop onto the only ferry service here back to Sirmione. With the Italian Alps as its background, this ferry ride was tranquil. Our first Italian seafood pasta dinner here, which we have been pining for since Cinque Terre last year, was a 3 thumbs up! ) 

 

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour #596 - Sirmione, Lake Garda, Italy

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour After Remission #596

 

- Sirmione, Lake Garda, Italy

 

(The small jewel sitting at the bottom tip of Lake Garda is Sirmione, a quaint little village here that requires crossing a drawbridge to get to it. And its main attraction is the Scaligero Castle, built almost 700 years ago, with lakewater surrounding it, making it look like it is actually floating on water. We spent 4 lovely nights here, perched right beside the lake, with beautiful sunset views each night)