Our journey from Venice to Riva and Roverto, Lake Garda, were part of the fun in itself.
We were unable to hire a car in Venice due to our credit card being hacked in Croatia so we arranged to get the bus instead. We walked to the Pizza shop on the corner at 10am, and ordered the largest pizza available. No word of a lie one slice was bigger than my head. So we piled our cases and giant pizza onto the tram, then the train, and then the bus... off the bus (realising it was the wrong stop and back onto the bus), and all the way to Lake Garda! I carried that giant pizza on my head like an African woman all the way from Venice, to our Lake Garda AirBnB.
I had heard of Lake Garda from my brothers travels through Europe a few years earlier and was keen to see the Santa Barbara Chapel that was nestled halfway up the cliff face on the far edge of the lake. As the bus rolled into the Lake Garda town, we spotted it. High above the trees and houses, it was a white speck against the grey stone. My stomach dropped... if I could barely see it, how was I supposed to climb to it!
Luckily the fears of my impending climb swiftly left my mind when I realised that only a few hundred metres from our AirBnb there was a bottle shop that sold refillable glass bottles and wine on tap! The shop attendant was incredibly amused to witness Josh's and my excitement. Wine on tap is how all rural establishments serve take-away wine. It keeps the wine fresh and is much cheaper than the pre-bottled variety.
The climb to the Santa Barbara Chapel was just as gruelling as we suspected. Josh felt faint a couple of times on the way up and with good reason. The view and reading the comments in the guest book make it all worth it though. If I were to do the climb again I would like to do it alone and say a few prayers or set intentions at the top. The difficulty of the climb, and the silence of the chapel do make it feel like a sacred pilgrimage of sorts.
We were finally able to hire a car, though not the cute little Italian Fiat we had requested. Instead we were given a very modern jeep, with all sorts of flashing lights and bells and whistles. This was the first time I drove on the right hand side of the road—in the dark—in the rain.
From here on out we're set to explore Italy 'from the road'!
Tate x
