Category: Italian Lakes
-
Conclusions
Overall, this was a most enjoyable holiday. Lovely scenery and generally good organisation from Riviera Travel. Frederica proved to be an excellent tour manager for our party of 28 people, who all got along really well. We were a little unlucky with the weather – it rained quite a bit, although not as badly as…
-
Day 8 – 19/9/23
Going home day…. 0645 alarm, then down to breakfast for the last time. Absolutely glorious weather. Bugger. The coach taking us to Milan Malpensa Airport turned up at around 0820 and we were soon bowling down the motorway towards Milan. We took a detour as there were reports of heavy traffic further down the motorway,…
-
Day 7 – 18/9/23
Our last full day……☹️ The weather was foul on waking – torrential rain, although balmy temperatures. The original plan was to drive to the town of Como and then be left to our own devices for about 5 hours! Given the weather, this had very little appeal, so our very genial driver, Gianni, offered to…
-
Day 6 – 17/9/23
The alarm went off at 6.30 a.m. We managed to drag ourselves out of bed and down to breakfast, after a disturbed night with fireworks going off, presumably because of the wedding taking place in the hotel. Riviera operate a rather ingenious seat rotation policy on their coaches so that people get different views. Frederica…
-
Day 5 – 16/9/23
As we didn’t have to assemble until 10.20, we took advantage of a lie-in. Consequently, when we went down to breakfast, there was nobody from our group around at all. Weird. The weather was dreadful. Absolutely throwing it down. We met Frederica at the appointed time and, after a call to the boat people, we…
-
Day 4 – 15/9/23
Timed our breakfast much better than yesterday….. Weather very overcast and quite cool. Frederica led her charges to the same jetty from which we had boarded the boat yesterday. The boat, when it turned up, looked too small, and the back was uncovered, so anybody sitting there risked getting wet if it rained. There was,…
-
Day 3 – 14/9/23
Awoke to a gloriously sunny day. After a (rather rushed) breakfast, we took a short walk to a jetty, from which we boarded a boat. This took us across to Isola Bella, one of the islands owned by the Borromeo family. We then had a guided tour, led by the very knowledgeable Matteo, of the…
-
Day 2 – 13/9/23
Reasonable night’s kip in a comfortable, if creaky, bed. Down for a decent buffet breakfast before boarding a coach for a trip to Lake Orta. Weather not at all promising, unfortunately – rain in the air, around 20⁰ and cloudy. Our tour leader, Frederica, was informative, but her English, although good, was heavily accented. We…
-
Day 1 – 12/9/23
The alarm went off at 6 a.m. We dragged ourselves out of bed, having had a rather fitful night’s sleep in an albeit comfortable bed. We had EasyJet Plus status, and the bag drop was, for once, a piece of cake. Next, Security. Took a while to get through, but neither of us got our…
-
Intro – 11/9/23
And we’re off! Again! The Italian Lakes this time, courtesy of Riviera Travel. Just for a week. I haven’t been to that area since I was 13 years old, but I do recall it being beautiful then. Looking forward to seeing it with older and (hopefully) wiser eyes. The flight to Milan leaves tomorrow morning…