April 9-10 Limone sul Garda and Castle Thun

After Jocelyn and I returned from Milan, we spent the next week in a beautiful apartment behind the Duomo (Chris and Tim have introduced us to AirBnB and so far it's been a great way to find accommodations). The apartment was central to Trento and was about a ten minute walk from both their apartment and the train station. Trento itself is a beautiful, and I think underrated, travel destination. The city core is very walkable with shops and sights. There is a beautiful castle close to the main square (and next door to our granddaughter's school. Last time she'll ever go to school next to a 13th century castle). Trento (and the Castel Buonconsiglio) was the site of the Council of Trent, which produced the Catholic Church's response to the Reformation. It lasted through eighteen years (1545 until 1563) and three popes and yielded the basis of the Catholic mass for the next 400 years. Numerous palaces were built throughout Trento to house the bishops attending the Council and many are still visible today.

From Trento a number of main attractions are reachable by train or car for one day visits. We took in as many as our stay would allow. Some were very worthy repeats from our earlier visit (Verona, Bolzano) and some were places Chris and Tim had found that were new to us.

On April 9, friends loaned us their car (Chris and Tim and the kids pretty much walk everywhere) so we could drive to Limone sul Garda, which really wasn't reachable by train. The trip took us to the next valley west of Trento to Lake Garda, one of the beautiful northern Italian lakes. We thought it rivaled Lake Como in beauty and Limone, the town at the head of the lake, was prettier than any town we visited on Lake Como. It seemed less developed, which added to its charm. Here are some pictures.

All the street signs in Limone were of the same type

The town namesake. No one seemed sure if the town came before the lemons or vice versa.

Looking north up the coast.

Some street scenes. Almost all the streets were steep, because the town was built right into the side of the hill rising above the lake.

We stopped at a local restaurant for lunch. It as a small place--husband and wife, owner/chef and owner/waitress. They were delightful and the food was wonderful. I had tagliatelle al ragu di cinghiale (or noodles with wild boar meat sauce). Delicious!

A couple more more street scenes. Limone is a beautiful town. 

Trento, as Tim told us to our surprise, is the same distance above sea level as Austin. However, there are mountains all around and the first week in April they still had snow on top. Here's a view from Limone (looking past the palm trees).

On our way back from Limone, we stopped at a famous waterfall,  Cascata Varone. Pictures were difficult and we couldn't go all the way to the top, but here are a couple I managed .

On April 10, still with our loner car, we drove northeast to visit Castle Thun. Castle Thun is one of a number of castles near Trento (including Castel Buonconsiglio in Trento) that have been taken over by the government and been completely or partially restored and opened to visitors. Castle Thun sits in the middle of immense apple orchards, a main product of the area around Trento.

Here are some photos.

Some of us walked up a long hill through the orchards to the castle--look close and you can see it in the background. Here are my hiking companions.

The exterior of the castle.

The castle is partially restored and some of it is open to the public.

There were beautiful views of the mountains and nearby towns.

In short, two gorgeous days to start off our visit. Thanks to G.P. and Amy for the loan of their car, otherwise we would have missed these great sights.