Notes from Italy- Part II: Sirmione

Approximately 140 Km eastwards from Milan, we found ourselves by the gates of Sirmione (see the route). Only those who have a hotel booked inside the city are allowed to take the car inside the walls and the medieval flavour of the city takes you as soon as you pass the security and find yourself driving through a very narrow entrance, on a bridge, below stony guarding posts. Driving in Sirmione is slow and you sometimes feel guilty to force all those walking people to move around and give way in those tiny streets. The city is kept so original and is very clean despite all the tourist rush. We hit there Saturday night and the place was filled with Italians who were cooling off for the weekend.

Sirmione is a narrow peninsula stretching into lake Garda in northern Italy and it is the lake that gives an additional specialty to the city. From a few streets that pass through the city, you need a few minutes walk in any direction  to find yourself by the shores of the lake and all your way you see restaurants, art and souvenir shops, hotels and villas.

We booked a hotel near the tip of the peninsula in a less crowded area and on top of a hill with a very pleasant view of the lake.

One aspect of Italy which is very popular is indeed "food". We spent two nights in Sirmione and around and hit the ice cream stands a couple of times :)

The boat ride: It was after a light lunch plus a bowl of cool watermelon and fruit and we were sitting outside the walls of Sirmione looking at the lake that one of the small boat riders offered us a ride around the peninsula and we hopped in...the fun part started when he tried to guess our nationality....:"Israeli??"...the old man asked and laughed with us when we told him that we were Iranians. It was a nice boat ride especially because we could see an ancient Roman villa on the tip of the peninsula (great taste, hats off to the Romans) and could enter the castle from the lake side.

The next morning, the rain was pouring and we headed towards Verona and Venice.

Photos of Sirmione in Italy photo album (+,+,+,+,+,+,+)

Sirmione in Wiki

Comments

[Gert]

Hello,

I'm a British blogger who's very concerned about the West's and in particular the US's and Israel's clamour for war against Iran on the nuclear issue.

Let me be clear: I'm not a fan of President Ahmadinejad, whom I believe to be an anti-Semite and a Holocaust-denier. However, such views do not make one a potential mass-murderer. The latter, we are constantly told, must be true because the President has allegedly called for "wiping Israel of the map".

There is however considerable debate here in the West regarding whether that statement is actually correct or rather a self-serving Western mistranslation from Farsi.

I would like to post a blog post on my blog, using first-hand evidence, that is the viewpoint of actual Iranians and not Western conservative patriots who clearly have motive for the demonisation of President Ahmadinejad and Iran.

Please send any information, evidence and links to Gert.Meyers@gmail.com or post them in the comment section of my blog.

Thanks in advance.

[Gert]

Hello,

I'm a British blogger who's very concerned about the West's and in particular the US's and Israel's clamour for war against Iran on the nuclear issue.

Let me be clear: I'm not a fan of President Ahmadinejad, whom I believe to be an anti-Semite and a Holocaust-denier. However, such views do not make one a potential mass-murderer. The latter, we are constantly told, must be true because the President has allegedly called for "wiping Israel of the map".

There is however considerable debate here in the West regarding whether that statement is actually correct or rather a self-serving Western mistranslation from Farsi.

I would like to post a blog post on my blog, using first-hand evidence, that is the viewpoint of actual Iranians and not Western conservative patriots who clearly have motive for the demonisation of President Ahmadinejad and Iran.

Please send any information, evidence and links to Gert.Meyers@gmail.com or post them in the comment section of my blog.

Thanks in advance.

[John Redford]

Love Defined

What is love, but an emotion,
So strong and so pure,
That nurtured and shared with another
All tests it will endure?

What is love, but a force
To bring the mighty low,
With the strength to shame the mountains
And halt time’s ceaseless flow?

What is love, but a triumph,
A glorious goal attained,
The union of two souls, two hearts
A bond the angels have ordained?

What is love, but a champion,
To cast the tyrant from his throne,
And raise the flag of truth and peace,
And fear of death o’erthrow?

What is love, but a beacon,
To guide the wayward heart,
A blazing light upon the shoals
That dash cherished dreams apart?

And what is love, but forever,
Eternal and sincere,
A flame that through wax and wane
Will outlive life’s brief years?

So I’ll tell it on the mountaintops,
In all places high and low,
That love for you is my reason to be,
And will never break or bow.

http://www.br3games.com