The site was set amongst olive trees overlooking the lake. The owner had been generous enough to provide us with a double site due the size of our van and awning.
The town is topped with a castle and when we arrived Red Bull had taken over the place and were holding a cliff diving competition.
Awesome to watch and about 50 metres high – definitely not on the bucket list! (He did dive and I have a series of photos of him in the air.)
The town is picturesque from most angles and even with low light on a cloudy day is very colourful. 
Picture postcard shots were not hard to find…
We hap planned to go to Venice and Verona during the week. Our initial plan to go to Venice first was thwarted due to very heavy traffic getting away from Garda. We subsequently found out we had selected the first day of the Italian school holidays to travel and decided on the shorter trip to Verona. This is a beautiful city and we took the two bus trips around the town. One of them included a stop at the Castel S Pietro which gives a great view of the city. Here is Duomo, Verona’s cathedral which was started in 1139 and the Ponte Pietra.
The Ponte shows some decorative architectural flair viewed this time from the West bank.
A focal point of Verona is the opera which is held in the enormous Roman arena. This dates back to AD 30 and is the world’s third largest amphitheatre (after Rome and one near Naples) and hold some 5000 people (nearly the whole town when it was built). There are a range of operas held over the summer and each stage is lifted in using a fixed tower crane. The props for shows are in a holding area just outside the arena walls.
We were able to get some tickets for Nabucco. As we had a little time before the performance start at 9:30 (and finishing 12:30 ish…) we decided on a leisurely dinner. The drink and food were great. Sue and I had a little fun stunning the occasional wasp and then wrapping them in a shroud (paper knapkin). We were not always successful with our first strike and this caused us some amusement. The Americans on the adjoining table were also bemused by the fact that we played with wasps. However, they quickly understood our lack of fear when they realised we were from Australia where there were snakes and crocodiles.
Inside the arena is stunning. Nearly all the seats were taken (and this is a nightly affair) and many of the crowd were extremely well dressed.
The opera used the whole of the stage area and the steps of the arena behind the stage. There were over 200 performers and the acoustics were wonderful notwithstanding there was not a roof or microphones.
At the end of the opera the stage effects included the building blowing up with great light effects and nitrogen “smoke”. The effect was added to by nature as a large thunderstorm built up over the last half hour. We managed to get back to the car before it rained notwithstanding that we stayed until all the singers had taken their numerous bows (unlike many of the occupants of the up market seats in the middle of the arena who exited as soon as the opera finished – pretty rude from our cultural perspective).We got back to camp at 3:00 and decided on a lay day!!
We then took off for our postponed trip to Venice. It is impossible to do this city justice in a short blog. There is just too much to see and do. We were directed to a large new car park and after devouring our packed lunch took off on the ferry into the city. The Piazza San Marco was packed with people. We were very lucky as the weather was unseasonably cold (low 20s and humidity) which made the whole day a joy (compared to our last visit when it was 35 and 100%).
Some of the buildings have wonderfully restored paintings. The scale and detail is hard to appreciate in a photo.
Even some of the less well known buildings date back to the 1200 Byzantine period.
There are three modes of public transport - ferry, water taxi or gondola. Some of the water taxis are immaculate.
This is Gondola park – chaotic but a good deal of fun. I had always thought that Gondolas had an unusual lean. What I had not realised until this visit is that they are asymmetric with the left (sorry port) side longer than the other so as to counteract the force of the oar and stop the gondola going round in circles.
Helen had always wanted to go on a Gondola so another item off the bucket list.
We found a colourful restaurant in one of the more hidden squares. The waiter was a character and the menu included lobster in a mild curry sauce and also mushroom risotto with truffles. The latter were shown to us. I am not sure whether it is the glorious but strong smell of the Truffle or the waiter that is getting up Sue’s nose. We did have a lot of fun and great food.
We took one of the last ferries back to the car and headed back to camp – another late finish (2:00). 
At the back of Marcesine was a different sort of Gondola. Helen and I travelled up to the top of Monte Baldo which at some 1800 metres is a skiers paradise in winter. Even in summer it was quite a bit colder and blowy than by the lake. I chatted with a Swiss girl who had been paragliding for 3 years while she prepared her equipment. With a pleasant au-revoir she gently ran forward and took off into the spectacular view. This summarises Malcesine for me, great panoramas and paragliding. Helen and I both plan to come back.
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