Lakeside Ramblings

So instead of a weekend in Verona and Lake Garda, we ended up in the less touristy versions; Bergamo and Lake Iseo. A brilliant alternative it turned out. Although it was in some ways a weekend full of small failures - not being able to go to the originally planned destination, missing buses, therefore missing other buses, and getting on the wrong bus – it was still brilliant! Some things we did/liked/loved…

·      Got very excited on the train travelling northwards and seeing snowy topped mountains and frosty fields!

·      Got even more childishly excited at the Christmas lights all up the street outside the station in Bergamo and the Christmas market. To our great delight there was also a stall selling mulled wine, a perfect addition to the evening.

·      ‘Città alta’, the old city on top of a hill looking down to the rest of Bergamo. So nice to wander around the little streets, all decorated with lights, and look in the cute shops and restaurants, and eat scrumptious pizza.

·      Got up very early to get the bus to Sarnico at the Southern end of Lago d’Iseo. Unfortunately the timetable we had wasn’t actually when buses to the centre ran, so we missed the one we needed and therefore missed the one to Sarnico. However, managed to get one to Lòvere at the North of the lake instead. It was a lovely bus ride, through lots of little towns and villages and then alongside the lake for a while, so nice to see lots of water and some actual scenery! Typically, the tourist information office was shut for a holiday so after consulting a very basic map we set off walking…

·      At the next village up the lake, Costa Volpino, we started heading upwards and just carried on ascending for a couple of hours on roads, cobbled pathways, muddy trails and snow covered tracks. Amazing to get past the height where the snow had settled and stayed on everything, and the views over to the other side of the lake and downwards more then made up for the fact that we had cold wet feet! We met a really cute old woman in one of the churches on the hillside who chatted to us for a while about how it’s great to be young and what a great age 21 is, and how she had grandchildren our age and that we should make the most of everything. Wise words from a wise little lady.

·   Hot food and drink was needed when we had got back down to Lòvere and coffee and waffles fitted the bill.

·      Next transport error – no thanks to the complete lack of information at the bus stop we got on a bus that went past but didn’t stop in Bergamo and just went straight on to Milan. Nightmare. Thanks to a nice young man we managed to get off at the stop nearest to Bergamo and told us how to get back, very kind of him.

·      After expending more energy in a day than we have in a while we were perfectly happy to get a nice warm shower and read back at the hostel, then seeing as it was Sunday there were no buses to the city and no places to go out, so pizza order was on the cards. They weren’t brilliant but filled us, and I definitely took advantage of the coffee/tea/hot chocolate machine.

·      Met some cool people at the hostel, a Syrian medical student living and working here in Italy, and a classical guitarist from London who travels and busks all over the world. It was kind of nice to chat to a stranger with a ‘real’ English accent, and he picked up on ours as soon as we walked in! Delightful end to the evening when he started playing quietly in the common room type area where we were sat reading on sofas. Made for the best relaxing ending to a tiring but exciting trip.