Arco & Riva

Last week, after a very long work week in Grafenwoehr, we took a 4 day weekend with Veterans Day! So, even though I have had little time in Garmisch, we decided to take a road trip down to Lake Garda, Italy. We had been wanting to check the place out since we moved here, and now, living at the southern tip of Germany, it was only a 3 hour drive! We couldn't believe how quick and easy it was to get down there. 1hr. to Innsbruck and then over the Brenner pass and then we were in Italy.

We booked an apartment in the morning and headed on down, arriving around 2pm. Arco is beautiful! I didn't realize it would be so Mediterranean. Olive groves, vineyards, orange and lemon orchards lining the valleys of the alps and all turning yellow for fall. And Lake Garda just to the south is beautiful as well. It is a huge, natural mountain lake, and the town that sits right on its northern edge, Riva del Garda, is beautiful and historic, filled with lots of cafes, shopping, museums and sights to see. And the area is loaded with rock climbing, sailing on the lake, biking, hiking etc and was bustling with outdoor sports enthusiasts even during the "extremely low season". The lake apparently is very famous for wind and kite surfers, and the mountains are extremely popular for sport climbing and multi-pitch climbing and then there mountain bike trails all over the place. Arco is actually one of the oldest and most storied sport climbing destinations in Europe and the world. One of the earliest areas to be developed for modern, "sport" climbing it was very apparent to us why as all the valleys were lined with huge cliffs and, little crags, boulders and such. And mixed in with all that were beautiful rivers and vineyards. On top of all that, add very old (12th century) towns Riva Del Garda and Arco with its castle atop the mountain in the middle of the city, and you have a picture perfect vacation destination! And so much warmer than Garmisch and Austria because it still gets some of that Mediterranean climate. I think this is where we will go when we need a break and some warm temps.

We were only 1 hour north of Verona which is an amazing city we have been to before and always wanted to go back to, and some neat Roman sites that next time we will have to visit next time. For this trip, we ended up hiking tons, seeing the cities, and Frank was able to get in 2 days of climbing in beautiful warm sunny weather. We ate gelato (only once unfortunately) and plenty of delicious Italian food and wine and the dogs enjoyed it all with us of course.

Dolce Vita!