Crossing over the Slovenian
and then the Italian border without any problems (indeed, without even needing
to pause other than for a brief wave of our passports to the border guards) we re-entered
the crazy world of Italian motorway driving. Mr B seems to enjoy the Italian
way of driving (no hesitation, no prisoners) and before long we were sailing
past our first possible stop-off (a return to lake Garda) and working out
whether we could make it to lake Como on our way to Switzerland. Recognising
that we were also returning at the same time as many Dutch campers, so pressure
would be tight on ACSI spaces, we opted for lake Iseo on Mrs B’s suggestion as
an interim choice that we’d reach sooner.
We commented on the Italian
love for bureaucracy when we headed south – and nothing had changed as we
headed home! Directed into a check-in lane by the young man on the gate at
camping Del Sole, we were issued with a chit that would allow us to walk the
100 metres to reception – where we were faced by our first problem with the
‘wrong’ ACSI card since Mr B became an honorary Dutchman almost two months ago.
Even the provision of the multilingual ‘letter of explanation’ from the
campsite that had given our card by mistake to a fellow camper from the
Netherlands appeared to cut no ice, with a blank refusal that they couldn’t
accept a card in a different name. Luckily, we’d photocopied all our key
documents just in case, before we left the UK, and although there was a
touch-and-go moment when the reception staff seemed to be insisting that they
also wanted a copy of the side of the ACSI card we didn’t have (it’s identical
to all card holders – we’d copied just the side with Mr B’s details on figuring
that would be enough…) common sense eventually prevailed and we were allowed to
look for a pitch from the now standard ‘three that are left for ACSI’.
Choosing one with shade and
a view down to the lake we settled in to learn more about lake Iseo and the
town of the same name (somewhere neither of us had ever heard of before!).
Realising that we had hit on
a very picturesque location with an interesting little town to explore by foot,
we decided to stay to stay a couple of nights and relax before the next leg
into Switzerland. The lake was great fun to swim in, and as the temperature had
stayed in the low 30s, a great place to cool off!
Our walk into town the next
day reminded us of the Italian approach to ‘private access’ as what might have
been a leisurely lake-side amble, required a few detours up to the main road
where private properties – and of course a lido or two – had claimed the
foreshore. We liked the way the town had worked around one property where they
had built a walkway into the lake, leaving the houseowners with a very low
bridge to get their water craft out onto the water!
The town itself was an interesting
combination of late mediaeval and more contemporary buildings, including an old
warehouse that became a prison in the 1800s, which was in use until 1980, and
is now an exhibition centre.
We just caught the end of
the town market and stocked up on ingredients for our last night in Italy
campsite dinner – one of Mr B’s specials (some might say his only one) a
risotto al frutti di mare…
The lake is big enough to
support a number of ferries/ pleasure boats and if this fabulous old steam ship
had been up and running I suspect we would have been tempted by a trip around
the lake. Like lake Garda, this is certainly an area of Italy we’d like to come
back to.
Instead of a boat trip, we
opted for lunch with a view over the lake, trying out for the first time a ‘piadina’
– a griddled flatbread packed (in our case) with prosciutto, tomato and basil,
followed by a Sicilian almond ‘granita’ (posh slush puppy) – yum!
Back at the campsite we
settled in for our final night, and as the food and wine were on their last
knockings, we were serenaded by a disco that sounded as if it was just next
door. Thinking it might be the site’s own disco, but surprised at the volume,
we discovered that it was in fact a private lido that was indeed next door, and
so we steeled ourselves for a 4.00am finish, like we’d experienced on the way
south near Trieste. Luckily for us, peace and tranquillity descended at
midnight and we woke bright and early for our next stage of the great leap
north – the Interlaken area in Switzerland – with some fun alpine passes en route! Of
course, before crossing the Swiss border we’d have to stop at an Italian
supermarket for some food and wine…
S&J.
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